“Creating a School Where Teachers Can Be Teachers”—The Dream of an AI Grading Startup Seriously Aiming for Zero Administrative Burden for Teachers

Our company endorses April Dream, which aims to make April 1st a day for sharing dreams. This press release represents the dream of "Micro Simulation Inc."

**■ Teachers are not administrative staff** According to the OECD's "Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS 2024)," Japanese teachers work the longest hours per week among participating countries and regions: 52.1 hours for elementary school teachers and 55.1 hours for junior high school teachers. Despite this, much of their time is not spent directly on teaching or interacting with students, but rather on grading, processing grades, preparing documents, and various administrative tasks.

The reason teachers stand at the podium is to support the growth of children, not to perform detailed administrative work.

We aim to change this situation.

**■ Our Vision for the Future** Our company is working to improve the operational efficiency of educational settings through the development and provision of the digital grading service "testus."

testus utilizes AI technology to support the automation of grading tasks, including handwritten answer sheets. It can handle not only multiple-choice questions but also long descriptive answers, mathematical formulas, and vertical writing, making it widely applicable across all subjects.

However, our dream does not stop at "automating grading."

Our goal is to use the power of AI to reduce all administrative tasks related to tests—from preparation to post-processing—and even general school administrative duties, to as close to zero as possible.

That is the future we aim for.

A school where teachers are not rushed with test preparations, do not stay late at night processing grades, and are not deprived of time by repetitive administrative tasks—

"What should I do for tomorrow's class?" "How should I talk to that child?"

We want to create a school where teachers can focus solely on such thoughts.

**■ A Small Company's Big Commitment** Micro Simulation Inc. is a lean and highly skilled software development company.

While many AI startups aim for rapid short-term growth, we, as a company rooted in the education industry, have a management policy of contributing to the field from a medium- to long-term perspective.

We uphold a thorough on-site approach, listening to the voices of teachers in educational settings, and pursuing fundamental operational improvements, including a review of workflows themselves.

We will earnestly build up what we can do for teachers and students, one step at a time.

**■ 2026, The First Step** Our company will exhibit at the Education IT Solutions Expo (EDIX Tokyo) to be held in May 2026.

EDIX Tokyo | Micro Simulation Inc.

We will provide a venue where you can experience the future vision of the educational setting we aim for, including the latest features of testus.

Our challenge to realize "a school where teachers can be teachers" will continue.

**■ About Micro Simulation Inc.** Company Name: Micro Simulation Inc. Location: Third Higashi Building, 1 Kandahirakawacho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 101-0027 Representative: Yoshimasa Kimura, Representative Director Established: September 2022 Business Activities: Software development, development and sales of digital grading service "testus" URL: https://microsimulation.jp/